|
Date |
Ship
Cruise Line |
Event |
Type
of Incident |
| July 2 |
Emerald Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Copenhagen Post reports doctors at Copenhagen hospitals are awaiting the arrival the cruise ship due to dock in Copenhagen on Saturday that has 14 crew members on board infected with the Influenza A H1N1 virus (see June 29, below).
Princess Cruises confirmed to the Cruise Critic website that some of the crew on board its Emerald Princess cruise liner had tested positive and are now in isolation and being treated with anti-viral medication.
The ship has already called at ports in Finland, Russia and Sweden, prior to its expected arrival in Denmark this weekend. There are 4,400 passengers and crew on board, but Danish health authorities have not yet decided if passengers will be allowed off the ship when it reaches Copenhagen. ‘The hospitals have been advised that there could be a number of passengers or others who have to be admitted,’ said health inspector Arne Scheel Thomsen. ‘So the system is ready to deal with the situation.’ |
Swine flu |
| July 1 |
Freedom of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
Associated Press reports an amphibious tour bus veered off a road Wednesday, injuring about 30 cruise ship passengers who were taking a shore excursion in the US Virgin Islands. The Duckaneer, which has a boat-like hull for traveling in water and wheels for moving on land, was carrying 47 passengers from the ship when it went off the road in St. Thomas and crashed into bushes.
About 30 people were treated at nearby Schneider Regional Medical Center for minor injuries, hospital spokesman Sam Topp said. One passenger suffered a broken ankle and was expected to be kept overnight for observation, he said. |
Injuries on shore excursion |
| June 29 |
Emerald Princess
Princess
Cruises |
RIANOVOSTI reports the
ship, with 14 A/H1N1-infected people onboard, arrived in St. Petersburg on Monday. Swine flu was confirmed in 13 crew members and one passenger. The ship sailed from the Finnish capital, Helsinki. The infected have been quarantined in their cabins and are being treated with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu.
The first case of the highly pathogenic virus was confirmed in several crew members on June 18. When the vessel arrived to St. Petersburg, 16 people had already recovered and tested negative for the virus. |
Swine flu |
| June 29 |
San Ramon de Bohol
Lite Shipping Corp |
Philippine Daily Inquirer reports
ore than 200 passengers and crewmen have been stranded at sea for five hours now after one of the ferry's navigation wheels (timon) got stuck, one of the ship's owners said.
The ferry left Cebu City port at 10 p.m. Sunday and was expected to arrive here at 3 a.m. Monday.Te ship was is seven nautical miles off the coast of Carcar, Cebu and Cabilao Island, Bohol.
The shipping line has decided to call up one of its ferries, Lite Ferry 1, from Siquijor to rescue the passengers, but it has to pass by the Cebu City port to load food for the stranded passengers and crew. Passengers are expected to arrive in Tagbilaran by noon. |
Stranded at sea (ferry) |
| June 27 |
Oceanic
Peace Boat |
The New York Post reports the ship (with 848 passengers) was detained after Coast Guard inspectors found a small hole in the ship's hull during a routine safety inspection. About a gallon of water per hour was coming into the ship, according to the Coast Guard. An additional 16 safety violations were cited. The ship arrived from Iceland and is due to leave tomorrow for Venezuela. Repairs are expected to be completed by then. Update June 28: Newsday reports the ship is expected to be taken to a New Jersey dry dock for repairs; the ship's passengers will be taken to Atlantic City hotels. The cruise is expected o resume July 1.Update: The ship left Bayonne July 2nd. |
Detained - Hole in Hull |
| June 24 |
Navigator of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
PR-Inside reports
two women (58-year old American and 34-year-old Italian) were quaratined during a port call in Barcelona; both tested positive for swine flu. The women will remain on the ship and it will leave as scheduled Wednesday night for Palma, on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. There doctors will examine them again. The cruise ship began its trip in Italy and stopped off in France before arriving in Barcelona. |
Passengers quarantined |
| June 23 |
Ocean Village
Ocean Village Cruise Holidays |
A poster at Cruise Critic reports
a crew member fell to his death in Palma on Tuesday, round about lunchtime. We heard the call Man Overboard, Muster, but as it was called out in a low key tone we thought nothing more of it. But then some of us went up to top deck and leaned over the balcony and watched as the tender came in with what looked like a model in the back. We thought it was a practice but a passenger stated (having been told by someone) that it was indeed for real, that a workman had fallen from the ship and wasn't breathing. We saw the medics on board the tender, taking photos and feeling his limbs, then were all moved away from the railing. The Majorca Daily Bulletin says the body of the 42 year old Indian man was 42 was spotted floating in the sea at about midday. |
Crewmember overboard |
| June 22 |
Pacific Sun
P&O
Australia |
Fiji Times reports
five passenger
that arrived in the Northern Division yesterday were not allowed ashore on the orders of health officials. Officials who are part of the quarantine team at Savusavu port requested that the five remain in their cabins after they showed symptons of seasonal flu. Health inspectors from the Savusavu Hospital awaited the arrival of the cruise liner to check passengers.
A health official said the team had already known of the five cases before the cruise liner docked. Ministry of Health spokesman Iliesa Tora said a team was at the port in the morning to carry out necessary inspection on the 1600 passengers that disembarked. |
Passengers quarantined |
| June 21 |
Carnival Legend
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
You Tube has a video from a cruise about a month ago. It was called to my attention by the following email: A friend went on this cruise and told me about the water in her cabin, and
in the cabins of several people she spoke with on the cruise.
It was brown in color and smelled badly. Comments with the video include another passsenger who says they had the same problem in their cabin. |
Unpalatable water |
| June 21 |
Pacific Star
P&O
Australia |
Fiji Village reports all arriving passengers were screened for swine flu. Health Ministry officials looked for any symptoms of Influenza A H1N1 amongst the 1,600 passengers of the Pacific Star which docked at the Savusavu whalf at around 8:30 this morning. |
Passengers screened |
| June 20 |
Crown Princess
Princess
Cruises |
From a reader: My friend is on board the Crown Princess Mediterranean Explorer itinerary. She emailed me this morning with the following information: "Yep- we heard it from the head of passenger services - there was a fire on board this morning.
We heard an announcement that said "immediate containment in room---" Later we were in the Sky Walker lounge and the head of passenger services was there to chit chat again and he volunteered the information. Story is- woman smoking in her room was collecting her ashes in a napkin and wrapping them up to put in the trash can. Destroyed her room. She is being escorted off tomorrow and charged for the repair of the room. He then told us about the sensors to pick up candles and then smoke!! The sprinklers do more damage than fire." Note - This clarification was offered by another reader: I was disturbed to read the last sentence. Being a firefighter, sprinklers SAVE LIVES, and protect property. When a sprinkler is activated, it contains the fire until firefighters arrive, then the sprinklers must be turned off at a reasonable timeframe, usually when the firefighters with hoses have contained the blaze. So the sentence, they cause more damage is just wrong! Note: Many cruise ships have fog nozzles rather than sprinklers in the main
crew/passenger areas. These are just as effective, but cause less damage should
they be activated.
|
Fire |
| June 20 |
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur
Cruises |
Radio Jamaica reports health authorities in Aruba have been checking passengers and crew from the cruise ship for signs of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.
The Dutch territory's health ministry said the tests were a precaution to prevent the spread of the virus.
The ship arrived back in Aruba late Monday. The passengers' Caribbean trip was cut short after three crew members tested positive for the H1N1 virus while eleven others showed symptoms. Authorities in Aruba have not ruled out some of the passengers spending more time on the vessel.
The people on board were said to be calm but frustrated by the long wait and lack of information. UPDATE: Taiwan News reports all but one passenger disembarked Saturday (June 20) and 400 crewmembers will disembark Tuesday. The single passenger and three crewmembers tested positive and are under quarantine onboard the ship. |
Swine flu |
| June 18 |
Carnival Corporation |
Seatrade Insider reports Carnival Corp. chairman Micky Arison said that 20 of 23 Caribbean governments where the company operates ships have agreed not to ban calls due to concerns about swine flu. ‘Over-reaction in some locations is a problem,’ Arison said during today’s Carnival earnings call. He told analysts the company is trying to deal with the issue on a port by port, country by country basis. He said it’s a matter of educating destinations about the facts. Cruise ships have rigorous sanitation protocols and practices that include the immediate isolation of passengers or crew who exhibit flu-like symptoms. These measures minimize the chance swine flu could spread from ship to shore. NOTE: His comments are interesting in the context of Carnival's over-reaction in stopping all port calls to Mexico when swine flu first appeared (especially given that most of those ill were not in Mexico's ports). |
Corporate pressure on ports |
| June 18 |
Royal Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Cruise Critic reports a fire broke out in the engine room at 8:10 p.m. local time on Thursday as the ship was departing from Port Said, Egypt. A statement from Princess says that passengers aboard were called to their muster stations and fire teams were deployed. All 733 passengers and 393 crewmembers have been accounted for, and there have been no resulting injuries onboard the ship, which is currently in the middle of a 12-night Holy Land sailing from Rome to Athens. Royal Princess is currently anchored off the coast of Port Said.
Princess spokeswoman Karen Candy said there is no word yet on whether the incident will delay any of the ship's remaining calls in Ashdod (Jerusalem), Haifa, Kusadasi or Patmos Island. The ship is due in Athens on the 25th. UPDATE: Princess Cruises released the following statement: In order to fully assess the impact of the engine fire that occurred earlier this evening, we plan to bring Royal Princess back into Port Said, Egypt tomorrow.
The assessment process includes flying various technical experts and regulatory authorities to the ship for a complete inspection, and they should be arriving onboard by tomorrow evening. So while our own assessment will occur throughout the day tomorrow, we expect the full assessment to be complete on Saturday. This means Royal Princess will be spending Friday and Saturday in Port Said. UPDATE June 19: Princess reports that the current cruise and the next cruise (June 25) will be cancelled because damage is greater than initially thought. Passengers on both voyages will receive a full refund of their fare, plus a future cruise credit equal to 25% of the cruise fare paid for these sailings. |
Fire |
| June 18 |
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur
Cruises |
BBC News reportsVenezuela has quarantined the ship following an outbreak of swine flu on board. More than 1,200 passengers and crew will be kept on board the vessel, which has docked at the Venezuelan island of Margarita. They were stopped from disembarking at previous stops in Barbados and Grenada after three crew members were diagnosed with the flu virus. Eleven more crew members are reported to have symptoms. "The virus was detected in three crew members and the boat must now stay in quarantine until June 24," said Venezuelan health official Jorge Alchaer. UPDATE June 19: Safety at Sea International reports the ship is headed for Aruba today after 342 Venezuelan passengers went ashore. The cruise line issued a statement today denying that Venezuela quarantined the ship until 24 June, as Caracas had earlier said. "The ship is continuing its itinerary to Aruba, where the rest of passengers and affected crew members will disembark in strict accordance with security measures established by Aruba's health authorities," Pullmantur added. Ocean Dream left Isla de Margarita off Venezuela, carrying 198 Spanish passengers and 151 Colombians, said the company, which added three crew members infected with swine flu and 11 others with flu symptoms were all improving. |
Swine flu |
| June 18 |
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur
Cruises |
Reuters India reports the ship was refused entry to Bridgetown, Barbados because of reports of flu-like symptoms among its occupants, shipping agents in Bridgetown said. |
Swine flu |
| June 17 |
Crystal Serenity
Crystal Cruises |
The Croatian Times reports the ship has been fined 62,000 kunas or 8,524 Euros because it dumped ashes into the sea. The Dubrovnik harbour-master’s office imposed the fine today. The incident occurred last weekend near Lokrum Island near Dubrovnik when the ship was leaving. A local beach was left covered by ashes. |
Environmental |
| June 16 |
Diamond Princess
Princess
Cruises |
News 8 reports norovirus has caused several people to not be allowed to leave their rooms for fear of spreading the virus. One passengers says the captain told them the highly contagious stomach illness norovirus is on board and people are cleaning the ship, hoping it will get better.
She says, the group was told hundreds of people had norovirus. She says most people are being served food in their rooms to prevent others from getting sick at the buffet. Princess Cruises released a statement saying, "We have a small number of passengers with symptoms of norovirus -- nothing unusual or escalated." They also say people who are sick have been asked to stay in their rooms. Last fall, sources say 400 British passengers were quarantined in China after norovirus spread aboard the Diamond Princess. |
Illness |
| June 16 |
Oriana
P&O
Cruises |
From a passenger: More cases of novovirus on oriana on cruise starting after previous cruise with 50 confirmed cases (see May 31 below). New passengers were not informed of outbreak before sailing on June 1st. When returned to Southampton on June 15th outbreak still ongoing. |
Illness |
| June 16 |
Sun Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The West Australian reports ill passengers aboard the cruise ship have been tested for swine flu before docking in Fremantle tomorrow.
The ship, which departed from Sydney on May 2 for an Indian Ocean cruise. is the first international cruise ship to arrive in Perth since the outbreak of the A/H1N1 virus. It is due to dock at Fremantle Port at 7am tomorrow and is expected to leave at 4pm. A Princess Cruises spokesman said he did not know how many swabs had been taken from passengers for testing at a WA health laboratory but confirmed the ship’s doctor had sent swabs to for testing as precaution. He said during the 46 night cruise, which made stops in Asia, South Africa, India and Mauritius, only seven people had shown flu-like symptoms of which five were confirmed to have contracted influenza A. In line with national protocols, all passengers will be required to fill out health declaration cards before being allowed off the ship. All sick passengers will be assessed by WA health communicable disease control staff and people sharing the same cabin will be offered Tamiflu as a precaution if appropriate. |
Swine flu |
| June 16 |
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur
Cruises |
Grenada Broadcasting Network reports the ship, which was scheduled to visit Grenada on Monday, was turned away by health authorities. Passengers were prohibited from coming ashore by the Ministry of Health because some crew members were exhibiting flu like symptoms. Geo. F. Huggins & Co. (G'da) ltd; local agents for the ship, confirm that the company was informed by the vessel that approximately forty (40) crew members onboard were found to be exhibiting flu-like symptoms. As a precautionary measure, the Ministry of Health prohibited the disembarkation of any passenger or crew member. |
Swine flu |
| June 16 |
Carnival Holiday
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
CNN reports a search is underway for a passenger (50 year old woman) who apparently disappeared from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship, which sailed from Mobile, Alabama, was stopped about a third of the way to Cozumel, Mexico, and passengers were told to return to their cabins for a head count. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said the count was initiated because a crew member had heard a loud splash near the vessel. The ship appeared to be circling in Gulf waters Tuesday. Passengers were told in an audio message Tuesday that the ship would proceed to Cozumel when the Coast Guard released it, but the ship's arrival to the Mexican city would be delayed. The passenger is believed to have fallen about 10:30 p.m. CT Monday, and boats were launched from the cruise ship to search nearby waters.The FBI said its violent crimes unit is investigating Vilborg's disappearance. FBI Agent Tim White said agents are looking at every possible angle. UPDATE: See follow-up article quoting woman's husband here. |
Person overboard |
| June 15 |
Carnival Inspiration
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
Sun Coast News reports
crewmembers from a pilot vessel rescued a 46 year old man clinging to a buoy at about 6:50 a.m., about one mile southeast of Mullet Key, in Fort Desoto, in St. Petersburg. He went overboard
at 4AM when he slipped after climbing up on a railing to get a better view of the pilot boat. The ship was returning from a four-day cruise. |
Person overboard - rescued |
| June 11 |
Enchantment of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
News7 Belize reports that disembarakation was delayed for more than four hours because of a swine flu scare. Six of the ship's crew had flu symptoms and were quarantined on the ship. As a precaution, passengers weren’t allowed to de-board until a Ministry of Health team checked out the ship. The okay was given at mid-day and the passengers filed off the ship. The TV station reported that most passengers were unaware that there was an onboard H1N1 scare. |
Swine flu |
| June 10 |
Adventure of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The Daily Mail reports the ship was turned away from St. Lucia today over worries the vessel was carrying the H1N1 swine flu virus. The line says another island, Antigua, also has told the ship not to visit as scheduled on Thursday. The islands' decisions came after the line reported two crew members and a passenger on the ship had been experiencing flu-like symptoms. The ship departed San Juan, Puerto Rico Sunday on a seven-night Southern Caribbean cruise and has stopped only at Bridgetown, Barbados. It is scheduled to visit Philipsburg, St. Maarten and St. Croix, Virgin Islands later this week. There's no word yet on whether the two islands will allow the ship to dock. |
Swine flu |
| June 8 |
Zaandam
Holland
America Line |
Associated Press reports at least three crew members tested positive for swine flu.
The seven-night, round-trip cruise had departed Seattle on May 29 and returned Friday. It visited Ketchikan on Wednesday. A medical epidemiologist with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, said her department was informed Tuesday that three crew members were affected. More were reported with symptoms Wednesday. Specimens were collected and sent to the department's lab in Fairbanks for analysis. Swine flu was confirmed Thursday. None of the officials had an exact number of cases available. Subsequent reports from Agenece France Presse put the number at five crew members comfirmed illwith swine flu. |
Swine flu |
| June 8 |
Coco Explorer 2
7107 Islands Cruise |
The Manila Standard reports the ship was seized from its owner who imported the vessel two years ago but did not pay P19.8 million in taxes on it.
The ship, formerly named Coco Explorer 2, entered the Port of Batangas
on Sept. 4, 2007, supposedly for repairs, but officials said it was
actually brought in to be delivered to its owner, Esteban Tajanlangit. The ship had been operating on the Coron-Puerto Galera-Boracay route and is said to offer 137
rooms that can accommodate 400 guests “in five-star luxury.” The owner had tried to
avoid paying duties on the ship by registering it with the Philippine
Economic Zone Authority and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
The Zone Authority said it did not grant the owner an import permit for
the ship, and that it registered with it only last September after the
vessel had already been subject to forfeiture proceedings.
Customs seized the ship in Manila on May 30, a Friday, just as its passengers and
crew were having a party. |
Ship seized |
| June 4 |
Liberty of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The Cayman Compass reports a 62 year old woman died while swimming off 7 mile beach. Police said that the 911 Emergency Communications Centre received a call from a member of the public at around 11.45 am on Wednesday reporting that a swimmer had been brought to shore unconscious in the vicinity of Royal Palms. Police and medics responded to the scene and the 62-year old woman was taken to hospital where she was unfortunately pronounced dead.
Detectives have been told that the woman had been swimming with her husband when she got into difficulty. Her husband sought assistance from another cruise ship passenger who was in the area on a jet-ski and she was brought to shore. |
Pax death ashore |
| June 2 |
Carnival Destiny
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
Posted at Cruise Critic:
I was attacked by fellow passenger on the Destiny!
Just returned from the 5-28-09 sailing and on the 1st night I had walked up
to get some pizza at about 3:30 AM for my wife and myself. While I was
waiting fro the pizza and bread to bake I had drink at the back pool bar after about 10 - 15 min pizza was ready and I was returning to my room and I walked up on 3 young mid 20's drunk men 1 of which was urinating on the
wall outside of my room. I will not go into many details here but lets just say they where not happy that someone challenged them on what they were doing and that I was going to call security on them. That is when I was
Physically assaulted, they must of thought they could scare me off before security arrived, well they were wrong I was not going anywhere! After a few mins they realized maybe they bit off more that they could chew they ran off to their room which was great for me I knew just where they went. Security finally showed up went to both rooms took statements and pictures I did end up with a good shiner but the other guy ended getting removed from the ship on his very 1st morning plus at least a $300.00 fine for not stopping at a foreign port.
|
Pax on Pax assault |
| June 2 |
Dawn Princess
Princess
Cruises |
ABC News reports
the ship has been turned away from Lifou, New Caledonia amid fears of swine flu after up to five people on board started showing flu-like symptoms.
Swabs have been taken from the sick passengers and sent to Sydney for testing.
The cruise left Sydney May 24 for a 13-day South Pacific cruise (previous port calls at Vanuatu and Fiji) and is now heading back to Sydney and will arrive on Friday. |
Swine flu |
| May 31 |
Oriana
P&O
Cruises |
Posters at P&O Cruises Community indicate there is a norovirus outbreak on the current cruise. Passengers were first notified on Friday (May 29) -- one passenger writes: We have just sailed away from Madeira and the Captain has annouced it is with regret that we have a norovirus outbreak onboard. All usual emergency procedures are now in place, anyone else coming down with it to ring 999 switchboard and stay in cabin, no self service allowed, so waiters will serve our food by tongs from now on, and a reminder to wash hands for 20 seconds when using the loo etc. Another writes today: We have not been told how many people have noro onboard, but it is enough to put out emergency procedures onboard, so enough to declare publicly we have a problem. There were 2 new cases yesterday and 2 more today the Captain said in his announcement at 12.15pm , 1/2 hr ago. On June 1, a passenger says there were 50 confirmed cases. |
Illness |
| May 29 |
Vicenzo Florio
Tirrenia di Navigazione SpA |
The ferry, travelling from Naples to Palermo, was 25 miles from the Sicilian capital when a fire broke out in the car hold early today. The 526 passengers used lifeboats to reach another ferry and a Coast Guard ship that came to the rescue. Initially, most of the 35 crew members stayed aboard to help firefighters extinguish the blaze, however the captain later ordered a complete evacuation because the flames were spreading. The ship is being towed and was expected to reach Palermo later today. |
Fire |
| May 27 |
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Anchorage Daily News reports a gastrointestinal illness outbreak on Sunday sickened 108 of its 2,000 passengers and seven crew members. The ship arrived in Whittier on Monday shortly after noon and was scrubbed down before taking on a new load of passengers that evening. The CDC subsequently reported 121 of 2001 (6.05) passengers and 7 0f 914 (0.77%) crew report ill. From a passenger: The first shipboard announcement was on the 23rd. Announcements suggested people use the toilets in their cabins, and to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds. Only change to shipboard routine we saw was at the buffet line: waiters served food to each person as they walked by, rather than allowing people to take their own food. Routines in the regular dining rooms remained unchanged. A man in the cabin next to us said his wife was quarantined to her cabin and would disembark through a different route than the other passengers. |
Illness |
| May 27 |
Pacific Dawn
P&O
Australia |
The Australian reports
the ship
will be quarantined off Willis Island, east of Cairns, tomorrow after three crew members tested positive for swine flu. The crew have been isolated and medical samples will be sent to Brisbane laboratories for testing.
The ship has missed scheduled stops in the Whitsundays. It had been cleared Monday by NSW Health to sail on a scheduled 10-night cruise to Queensland, but today NSW announced it would treat all cruise ships arriving in NSW waters as if swine flu were onboard. Eighteen cases of infection have now been recorded from the cruise ship. Three crew members on the present cruise have been confirmed to have the illness. UPDATE: The ship's port call at Cairns and Port Douglas have been cancelled by the government in its effort to prevent spread of swine flu. The ship will call at Brisbane Saturday and return to Sydney Monday (three days ahead of schedule). UPDATE: Bloomberg News reports 53 passengers and crew have tested positive for the H1N1 virus after two voyages. Most were diagnosed after they disembarked in Sydney May 25. Cases among people on board the ship have been found in Canberra and the states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, the nation’s health department said by e-mail today. The infections contributed to a more than twofold increase in Australia’s swine flu tally to 164 since early yesterday. |
Swine flu |
| May 25 |
Carnival Fantasy
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
WWL News reports the Coast Guard is searching for an 18 year old man who fell overboard (some sources say he jumped) from a cruise ship Sunday at around 9:45 p.m., about 150 miles southwest of Tampa. The ship left port in New Orleans and was en-route to Key West when the incident occurred. A search-and-rescue mission was launched by the Coast Guard out of Miami, but the man has not been found. |
Passenger overboard |
| May 25 |
Pacific Dawn
P&O
Australia |
The Daily Telegraph reports a second case of swine flu outbreak.
The paper said Monday that Sydney Harbour was in lock down with two children aboard the cruise ship believed to have tested positive for swine flu. The two passengers have been quarantined in their cabins. Test on four suspected cases came back positive at 6pm revealing two passengers were infected with the H1N1 virus (another 170 passengers show flu-like symptoms). Passengers were apparently allowed to disembark, however asked to remain locked indoors at home. The two children (confirmed cases) were isolated on board the cruise ship two days after it left Sydney for the South Pacific on May 16 with what they thought was the influenza A virus. |
Swine flu |
| May 23 |
Dawn Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Melbourne Herald Sun reports ship was quarantined for several hours on arrival in Sydney at the end of a 35 night cruise of the Pacific amid a swine flu scare. Almost 2000 passengers, and another 900 crew, were kept on the ship for more than five hours while another 2000 passengers waiting to board were left to wait on the dock. The ship
arrived at Darling Harbour at about 12pm (AEST) today, hours late due to poor weather conditions.
Then, health officials were called out and the ship was locked down because four passengers with mild influenza-like symptoms were suspected to have swine flu - they underwent tests. All passengers and crew were subsequently allowed to leave the ship but told to remain in isolation in Sydney until the test results are known. |
Swine flu |
| May 22 |
Maasdam
Holland America Line |
Posters at Cruise Critic report
the ship tilted sharply to the starboard side while on the St. Lawrence Seaway at about 9:45 PM.
Things in my stateroom slid and crashed. I understand the china and glasses in the dining room ended up on the floor (just as they were serving the baked Alaska). Another poster says s/he was with an officer that night and was told that his department was heavily damaged. He said it was caused by the pilot error and the captain was on the bridge at the time and took command of his ship. The captain saw a sand bar coming on the sonar and took action to avoid a mishap. We saw much damage in the dining room and heard the bars had some damage. I hear a bill will be sent to the pilot and hope they have good insurance. Now a few minutes later we did pass by a cargo ship very closely and wonder who was driving that evening on the river. |
Severe list |
| May 21 |
Holiday
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
The ship missed its port call at Freeport (Bahamas) because of rough weather. Also, a passenger reports that on its return to Mobile the ship ran into a storm with high winds, causing the ship to roll heavily to one side which resulted in dishes and other stuff sliding off tables and furniture in staterooms. |
Missed port |
| May 20 |
Sea Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Grimsby Telegraph reports a norovirus outbreak on a cruise ending in Montego Bay (thus it will not be reported to the CDC). According to the newspaper, the day the cruise was to end the captain announced there was an outbreak of Norovirus, An elderly couple celebrating their golden wedding anniversary were struck with the illness and moved by the cruise line to the Altamont Hotel in Montego Bay, decribed by the husband as "cheap and small, situated on the Hip Strip, with police patrolling up and down the promenade in pairs." They say they were not allowed to leave the hotel for 48 hours, and claim to have received no information from the Princess Cruises, which organised the trip. Eventually, 10 more couples who were affected by the outbreak joined the pair in the hotel. Princess Cruises
confirmed the norovirus outbreak. |
Illness |
| May 18 |
P&O Express
P&O
Ferries |
The BBC reports a man with a psychiatric condition was seen jumping from the Larne to Troon ferry on Sunday evening. The boat, which was travelling at about 30 knots, turned around to look for him. It launched its onboard fast rescue craft and a helicopter from Prestwick and a RNLI lifeboat from Girvan joined the search. The man was winched to safety and taken to hospital after the vessel docked at Troon. |
Person overboard - rescued |
| May 16 |
Coral Princess
Princess Cruises |
From a passenger: During a 3 day repositioning cruise on the Coral Princess from L.A. to Vancouver at 10:30 am in the Lotus Pool on deck 14, a young woman was severely injured while swimming. At 2:30 pm, the Captain ordered all upper decks cleared as well as many staterooms on the port side, as a Coast Guard rescue helicopter was on its way from San Francisco to initiate an emergency evacuation of the young woman. They announced over the P.A. system, that no photography or video cameras were allowed during the procedure. At 3:00 PM the rescue team arrived and hovered over the Coral Princess mid ship pool during the evacuation procedure that lasted until 4:00 pm. |
Swimming pool injury |
| May 14 |
Carnival Victory
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
Safety at Sea
International Newsletter reports concerns over swine flu have
impeded disembarkation in Barbados Wednesday, but the cruise line
disputed a report that the ship had been quarantined. Barbados Port CEO
Everton Walters said the ship had been quarantined and the cruise port
had been closed. Carnival said a female crew member exhibiting flu-like
symptoms was recently placed in isolation and upon the ship’s arrival
in Barbados this morning, this information was provided to local
authorities. Carnival said, “In response to the information, local
authorities in Barbados are requiring that all guests disembarking the
vessel there be given a screening questionnaire. The process is
somewhat delaying debarkation. The ship will extend its port call in
Barbados until 1930 to provide additional time in port.” The female crew member was quarantined shortly after the ship left Roseau, Dominica. See Jamaica Observer and The Dominican. |
Swine flu |
| May 12 |
Carnival Splendor
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
The Daily
Mail reports an email identifying passengers who opted out of a
pre-paid tip to staff was found pinned to a wall in crew quarters by a
passenger on a behind-the-scenes tour of the ship. The company claims
this is not standard procedure. |
Non-tippers identified |
| May 9 |
Serenade of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
While cruise ships have dropped port calls in Mexico to
avoid swine flu, the first cases of swine flu on cruise ships were
identified on a cruise ship in Alaska. KTUU
in Alaska reports state health officials say a female crew member
(dining room waiter) tested positive for the H1N1 swine flu virus, and
that ship is now in Alaska waters. The ship was en route to Sitka on
Sunday, traveling in the Icy Strait on a 14-night cruise from the
Caribbean to Canada. "(Saturday) we received reports of a probable case
of the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus, also called swine flu," said Dr.
Jay Butler, the state's chief medical officer. Royal Caribbean said in
a statement that two crew members experienced flu-like symptoms about a
week ago. Both crew members were immediately isolated. The illness was
subsequently confirmed to be swine flu. |
Swine flu |
| May 8 |
Enchantment of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
Two passengers apparently had an altercation during the muster drill at the start of the cruise -- enough to draw blood. Both were offloaded from the ship when it arrived at Nassau. The incident was taped and available on You Tube (but has since been taken offline). |
Pax on pax assault |
| May 8 |
Zenith
Pullmantur
Cruises |
Cruising
Talk reports the ship went aground on the approach to Copenhagen
having cruised too close to a wind farm of twenty four turbines on
Saturday in the Oresund Strait. Local reports have said that the ships
captain has been fined as a result of the incident. She is at present
operating seven day cruises, departing on a Saturday, from Copenhagen
or Helsinki with calls at Gdynia, St Petersburg, Stockholm and Tallin.
She was about 24 hours late when she sailed at 18.45 hrs. tonight from
Copenhagen. |
Aground |
| May 8 |
Crown Princess
Princess Cruises |
Gibraltar
Chronicle reports a British Airways plane aborted its landing after
the ship strayed into its flight path as it sailed from Gibraltar. “By
the time we did the final turn, it was obvious to me that we would not
clear the ship,” one passenger told the Chronicle. The exact position
of the cruise ship is not clear but admiralty rules establish an
exclusion zone at either end of the runway. |
Plane aborts landing |
| May 6 |
Island Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship reported 7 of 894 (0.56%) crew
and 100 of 1954 (5.12%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on a 14 day cruise ending May 7. |
Illness |
| May 4 |
Diana |
The
Local (Sweden) reports passengers were evacuated to safety after the vessel,
plying the trans-Sweden Göta Canal, ran aground near
Oxelösund in eastern Sweden. Passengers were woken with a start
when the mayday was sounded. "The boat was listing badly and a large
number of people were unable to stand on the deck due to the boat's
gradient," Göran Johansson at the Swedish sea rescue service said
to news agency TT. Four boats and a helicopter participated in the
rescue. All 53 passengers were evacuated to safety. |
Grounded |
| April 30 |
Unnamed (but picture looks like Melody, MSC Cruises) |
The
Telegraph reports Spanish police have smashed a drug trafficking
ring that used pensioners to smuggle cocaine into Europe on luxury
trans-Atlantic cruise ships. The senior citizens posed as tourists
taking cruise holidays around South America to pick up packages of the
drug to bring back to Spain. Two women in their sixties, who were
chosen as "drug mules" because they were less likely to arouse the
suspicion of authorities, were arrested as they prepared to disembark
from a cruise ship when it docked in the port of Cadiz, south-western
Spain. Police found 27 kilos (59 lbs) of pure cocaine hidden in their
cabin. It is thought the drug was collected when the cruise ship
stopped in Brazil Another seven members of the ring were also arrested,
including two who were to collect the drugs from the women when their
ship docked in Spain, and the alleged leader of the operation who
attempted to flee to Brazil. |
Drug bust |
| April 30 |
SunCruz |
WDBO
News reports an 18-year-old man jumped off a gambling cruise ship
near Port Canaveral on a $15 dare and swam to Jetty Park. The man
jumped off the ship after accepting the dare from his friends. He was
not injured and had not been drinking. |
Jump overboard |
| April 29 |
Carnival Liberty
Carnival Cruise Lines |
The ship reported 57 of 1163 (4.9%) crew
and 208 of 3253 (6.39%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on a 7 day Caribbean cruise ending in Miami
April 25. |
Illness |
| April 27 |
Mercury
Celebrity
Cruises |
KFMB Radio
in San Diego reports the ship arrived at 7 a.m. but passengers didn't
get to leave the ship until three hours later (missing flights home).
That's because the passenger count didn't match with the number of
people on the ship -- about five or six people were missing. The cruise
started on the U.S. East Coast with stops in Acapulco and Cabo San
Lucas before arriving in San Diego. |
Delayed disembarkation |
| April 23 |
Amsterdam
Holland America Line |
The ship reported 19 of 600 (3.17%) crew
and 119 of 1318 (9.03%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on a 22 day Panama Canal cruise ending in
Vancouver April 24.UPDATE
April 28: CDC has revised the numbers to
25 crew (4.17%) and 135 passengers (10.24%). The cause of the illness is Cyclospora cayetanensis. |
Illness |
| April 19 |
Sea Cloud
Sea CLoud Cruises |
Panorama
News (Gibraltar) reports there was a fire onboard a cruise sailing
ship at the weekend, as the ship sailed out of Gibraltar. There were 96
passengers on the 'Sea Cloud', which had the fire extinguised by the
fire brigade before returning back to the Rock. |
Fire |
| April 19 |
Un-named Riverboat |
Dutch
News reports a cruise ship with 155 American tourists on board
collided with two other cargo barges on the Waal river, a tributary of
the Rhine, close to Nijmegen. No-one was injured and although the
cruise ship was badly damaged, it was declared safe to sail on to
Dordrecht. The cruise ship crashed into an oncoming tanker carrying
2,400 tonnes of aircraft fuel during a manoeuvre to overtake another
barge. |
Collision |
| April 18 |
Norwegian Sky
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The Miami
Herald reports the Coast Guard is searching early Saturday for a
39-year-old man who went overboard the cruise ship Norwegian Sky around
3 a.m. about 60 miles north of the Nassau, Bahamas. The ship left Miami
for a three-day cruise, and was headed to its first port of call,
Nassau. The name of the passenger was not released. Fellow passengers
saw him go overboard. Also assisting in the search were The Royal
Bahamas Defense Force, the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas cruise
ship crew, the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship crew and Disney cruise line
smallboat crews. The search was called off at nightfall. |
Passenger overboard |
| April 17 |
Star Princess
Princess Cruises |
From a passenger: My sister and I were on a 10 day cruise from San Francisco to the Mexican Rivera. At midnight, after leaving port, we learned our luggage was missing. We filled out and filed a report with the passenger service desk. We were offered tolieties items and nothing else. We called in the AM and told the luggage was still missing. Since we are both on scooters we had no carry-on or any clothes except what we had on our backs. We were not offered any help with shipboard credits for clothing even though we were at sea for 4 days and still no luggage. We were questioned at one time if we were sure we brought luggage and could we show them airline claim check for the luggage (ironically, the Princess agent assisted us with our luggage because we relied on scooters). Now not only did we not have luggage we were now called liars. Late Saturday afternoon they offered to wash and dry our clothes but they would not be returned for 24 hours. Being those were the only clothes we had we declined. I instead went to the laundrymat and did the clothes myself in a Princess robe. Sunday still no luggage I called my travel agent from the ship to arrange a flight home on Tuesday from Accapulco. We had to pay for this flight home even though we had one for the end of the cruise. Still no compensation from Princess Cruise on board; our travel agent call the headquarters and since we are on board only the on board staff could help us. Very late Sunday our luggage was found. It had been left in the bus with 5 other pieces. The assistant purser called and told us this and also said they could not get our luggag to us in Acapulco. I asked if he would arrange transportation for us on Tuesday to go to the airport in Acapulco and he said he would. On Tuesday at noon when we docked there was no ride waiting for us. We finally found the taxi and left for the airport. During the trip to the airport my sister asked if this was paid for by the cruise line and was told no we needed to pay and it cost $70.00. UPDATE: We have heard back from Princess -- given a $75.00 shipboard credit. despite leaving the 10 day cruise on the 4th day. |
Missing luggage |
| April 14 |
Explorer of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
From a passenger: The
June 11 saling from Bayonne has changed its itinerary. It now arrives
in St. Marteen at 2:00 and leaves at 10:00 PM (Was 12:00-9:00). But the
worst is San Juan - it arrives at 10:00 pm and leaves 11:30 AM Docked
(Was 7AM - 2PM one day). These are minor changes but it really effects
the shore excursions. Many passangers are upset because RCCI announced
the change right after the final payment was due without an
explaintion. From a Reader: The April 11
post about RCCL's change in itinerary is not the only change, my
sailing on May 28 th has been changed also, to the one you have posted
for june 11, in fact, if you go to their web page and look at the 6 or
so sailings planned, they have all been changed to the the June
11 trip as posted.
|
Itinerary change |
| April 14 |
Super Star Virgo
Star Cruises |
The
Star/Asia News reports from George Town, Malaysia, that a
49-year-old man went missing while his wife was rescued after they
accidentally fell from a cruise ship about 15 nautical miles south of
Pulau Kendi. The woman and her husband fell about 20m into the sea at
10am yesterday. Investigatoirs are trying to determine how they fell
from the ship, which was from Singapore. |
2 passengers overboard - one rescued |
| April 12 |
Freedom of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
From a passenger: The cruise running
March 29 to April 5 had 100 cabins hits with norovirus outbreak. I was
on next sailing starting April 5 which had "code red" situation.
Lasted first 3 days. Extensive cleaning, sanitizing etc. Seem to have
worked. Didn't hear about any new cases. Breathing bleach, chlorine and
purel all day can't be to healthy. |
Illness |
| April 10 |
Carnival Valor
Carnival Cruise Lines |
From a passenger: I just returned
from the 7-day cruise April 5-12, 2009. On the morning of April 10th,
we were supposed to be docking at Progresso. At about the time we
should have been docking, the Captain made an announcement that we were
not going Progresso because of excessive winds (30+ kn). He told
us that the long channel they had to navigate through would not be safe
due to the winds. He went on to say that the safety of the vessel
and the passengers is most important and it wasn't worth the risk.
We were also told that we would now be spending 2 days at sea
instead of the scheduled 1 day. Although disappointing, it was
nice to actually hear the Captain convey the news versus the cruise
director. We were then told that Carnival was going to give each
passenger an on-board credit of $25. Ten minutes later, we were
told that the credit would only be $20 per person.
About an hour later, the Captain made another announcement regarding
his decision to skip Progresso. He reiterated his safety concerns
and happily informed us that we would be having an at-sea day and then
we would spend Saturday, April 11th at Key West. Eventually, a
letter magically appeared in our stateroom telling us that there would
not be any credits since we were now going to visit Key West and they
had to pay dock fees, etc.
|
Itinerary change |
| April 8 |
Greenlines
Dong Song Xanh Joint Stock Company |
VOV
News reports the cruise liner suddenly collided with a mooring buoy
during its voyage from Vung Tau to Ho Chi Minh City. The incident left
the ship with a huge gash in the buoy but all 79 passengers were
evacuated safely. The ship was carrying 79 passengers, including a
number of foreign tourists and 5 crew. |
Collision |
| April 7 |
Discovery
Discovery Cruise Line |
The
Bahamas
Weekly reports the cruise line, which offers cruise service between
South Florida and Grand Bahama Island every day of the week except
Wednesdays, announced the cancellations of sailings through April 12.
According to Hanns J. Hahn, General Manager of Discovery, “Due to
urgent repairs to the port main engine, cruises to and from Grand
Bahama Island have been cancelled until April 13.” |
Cancelation |
| April 2 |
Indian Ocean Explorer
Aquatours |
The
Associated
Press reports that tourist yacht and its crew of seven was hijacked
by Somali pirates near the Seychelles islands off Africa's east coast
yesterday. The yacht, which can carry up to 14 passengers, had just
dropped off its contingent of tourists before it was seized. The
British Navy suspects the boat would be taken to Harardhere, a pirate
stronghold north of Mogadishu, and would be held about three months.
All seven crew members are from the Seychelles. |
Tourist boat seized by pirates |
| April 1 |
Seven Seas Voyager Regent Seven
Seas Cruises |
The
company announced today that the cruises scheduled for April 18 and May
8 have been cancelled so repairs can be made to one of the pod
propulsion units (see March 22 below). Guests who joined the cruise in
Dubai have been told, if they choose to remain on the ship, that all
port call en route to Rome have been cancelled except for Muscat,
Safaga, and Aqaba (Safaga and Aqaba notably have high priced shore
excursions that yield considerable revenue for the company). According
to a passenger: Shortly after checking in at the hotel on
Monday, I met a UK couple who showed me the letter they had received
from their travel agent early Saturday morning explaining the situation
as it seemed then and offering three options for everyone cruising from
Dubai to Istanbul: Full refund + $500 future cruise credit; switch to
Mariner in Asia a week or two later at no additional charge; continue
on with a somewhat curtailed (miss four ports) cruise with a $400
shipboard credit + 25% refund for that segment + 25% future cruise
credit. Ha! And that's how things stood until Tuesday night when word
began to spread that things were worse than they appeared. Wednesday we
were to check out of the hotel and proceed to the ship at
1PM. Once there, we boarded and were shown into the conference and
card rooms, and greeted by the captain and various mid-level staff to
explain our revised options: Voyager has bigger problems than
previously thought. No Istanbul. Only ports will be Muscat, Safage
overnight and Aqaba, then onward to Roma for 3-4 weeks of drydock.
Grosso problemo. Our choices are: Full refund and
they would do their best to rebook air home in same class, tho' it
might be 2-3 days before we could get out of Dubai; Mariner in Asia;
stay on ship & get 50% refund for 18 days on board + 100% refund
for additional days unused + flight home from Rome in same class you
came over on + refund of travel insurance premium as future cruise
credit. Plus I may be able to get something back from insurance
company for cruise interruption (doubtful). Oh, and we have until 3PM
-- less than two hours -- to decide. So it began. Everyone has
different situations. We explain our situtations to EVP vessel
operations who confers with CEO, who is limited by what insurance
company will pay line, but he has some wiggle room. He is very nice,
but can only go so far. So I chose #3, the best of three bad choices, I
guess. So, off we go limping along with one pod. Everyone wants to
see Luxor and Petra, and if they announce that they have to cancel one
or the other, there will be mutiny. Or at least real
lawsuits. Short of the ship actually sinking, it could not be
worse. |
From bad to worse to horrible |
| March 28 |
Aurora
P&O
Cruises |
The
Daily
Telegraph reports passengers have staged a revolt after visiting
only two ports in 22 days. This is in the aftermath of problems reports
below on March 3. A protest group – dubbed the Aurora Committee – is
now threatening legal action to compensate for the cruise, which some
passengers had saved for 20 years to afford. |
Passenger revolt |
| March 25 |
Norwegian Majesty
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
From
a passenger: On March 20th at approximately 14:45 off the
coast of Jacksonville, FL, following a boom or rumble like sound, large
chunks of rusty iron matter jettisoned out from ship's funnel raining
down on guests on aft sundecks 10 & 8. This was followed by a spray
of an oily substance and black soot that showered the entire aft
section. Passengers were literally coated with this residue permanently
damaging clothing and personal belongings. Crew members who witnessed
just pointed and laughed. Ship staff tried to smooth over by offering
free laundry and free wine + compensation for damaged clothing through
NCL Corporate. The ship and NCL themselves have yet to provide any
detail as to cause and/or health implications to those affected. See photos here. |
Sooty mess from smokestack |
| March 24 |
Norwegian Star
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
A man filed a lawsuit against NCL after being
assaulted during a vacation cruise on the Norwegian Star in March 2008.
He alleges that while traveling with his family, three men violently
attacked him with beer bottles and punched and kicked him in the face.
His parents asked NCL to identify the attackers and provide a copy of
the tapes from the cruise ship's surveillance system which recorded the
incident, but the request was denied. They hired a lawyer for the
purpose of obtaining the names of the assailants so that the crime
could be reported to the FBI, but NCL responded by blocking all e-mails
from the lawyer. They have now filed a lawsuit in Federal District
Court in Miami. See press
release here. |
Lawsuit filed |
| March 24 |
Westerdam
Holland America Line |
From a passenger: We
just returned from a seven day cruise on the Holland Westerdam, March
15 thru March 22 2009. When we boarded the ship, we noticed that the
crew was passing out the anti bacterial liquid on every floor. Three
days in the cruise we noticed the employees were thinner than normal.
Five days and the Captain of the ship announced that there was indeed
some sick crew and passengers and they were trying to contain the GI
Virus. We could not even get our own coffee or sugar. No salt and
pepper shakers on table. It was a terrible cruise. I would not
recommend it to anyone.
|
Illness |
| March 24 |
Eolos Kenderis 2 NEL Lines |
According to GR
Reporter the ferry hit the breakwater at the Santorini port at the
moment when the crew was trying to dock and to tie the rope to a post
on the port. There were 26 passengers and 20 crew members on board and
no serious injuries. There is a strong 7 Beaufort wind at the time. The
incident, which happened around 09:30 pm, scratched the ship right
under the water line. The ship is anchored outside the port and will be
examined to determine whether it needs repairs or it could continue
sailing. |
Collision with breakwater |
| March 22 |
Golden Princess
Princess Cruises |
From a passenger: Just got back
from a 14 day cruise to Hawaii. On Sunday March 22nd just before
midnight the ship's main fire alarm sounded off. The assesment crew was
sent to the engine room. The Captain came on the PA system and
announced a reported fire in the main engine room. The crew was
scrurrying around with their life vests on. I went up to the top deck
to see the smoke stacks. The ship had slowed down to less than half
speed and there was a strange burning smell. About 20 minutes later the
Captain came back on and announced that a turbocharger on one of the
main engines had blown a seal, set off the smoke detectors and blinded
the cameras. Within an hour we were back up to speed again. Also we
aborted the port docking in Nawiliwili, Kauai. We were told this was
due to high winds although they didnt seem all the high? Some of the
crew members confessed that this port is missed about 1 out of 4
times?? Had I known this I might have thought twice about booking this
cruise. |
Fire |
| March 22 |
Seven Seas Voyager Regent Seven
Seas Cruises |
According to reports from passengers on board the
Voyager, one of the pods was caught in a fishing net. Attempts to
release the pod failed. The ship is on it's way to Dubai at a
speed of approximately 12-14 knots. The manufacturer of the pod
will be joining the ship shortly. The ship is expected to be dry
docked in Dubai to fix the pod. In the meantime, many port
cancellations have occurred (including Mumbai and Abu Dhabi).
There appears to be no media reports as yet on this story.
NOTE: There was a similar incident November 26, 2008, when
the ship was returning to Fort Lauderdale. It arrived in port a day
late because of reduced speeds. |
Propulsion problems |
| March 21 |
Carnival Splendor
Carnival Cruise Lines |
A
passenger writes that he and his wife were among 106 passengers refused
boarding on January 31 for the 51 day circumnavigation of South America
departing from Fort Lauderdale because they did not have visas for
landing in Brazil. The passengers say neither Caranival or their travel
agent told them about the need for a visa, even though they asked
multiple times. Carnival says the travel agent is the passenger's
representative, that they notified the travel agent, and that the
passenger could have booked directly with Carnival instead. In any
case, Carnival has refused to refund the passenger's fare even though
they weren't allowed to board the cruise and the passenger is pursuing
the matter in everyway they can. The moral of the story: check out visa
requirements whenever you travel outside your country -- the
information is normally available on the web from each country's
department of foreign affairs (or equivalent). Another
passenger writes: The cruise went from bad to really,
really bad. Most passengers caught the "cold" going around. If you were
on the cruise for the three legs, you could get it three times. The
dinning room refused to put gel dispensers outside the dining room.
Many of the passengers asked for it. The crew was sick, the nurses were
sick. They ran out of milk in cartons in Chile and put out uncovered
pitchers of milk, sitting in ice. People were coughing and sneezing
while in line for food. We went only to the dining room near the end of
the cruise. Don't even ask about the disaster that was immigration in
Long Beach. Carnival acted as if they had never been on a cruise
before. This was my 8th cruise with Carnival, never, never again. From
the way they treated the Visa people, to the way they handled
complaints, to immigration, they were uncaring and incompetent. Thank
goodness, the waiters, and stewards were really good. The captain was
absent from most past cruisers cocktail parties. And
another says: The ship ran out of medication,and we were
were told to buy our own at ports. Only everything was in other
languages therefore it was very difficult to do. |
Visa problems
---
Illness |
| March 20 |
Island Princess
Princess Cruises |
From a passenger: A
friend and I are currently on the 10-day Panama cruise out of Fort
Lauderdale, FL, and suspect a norovirus outbreak. As of
yesterday, passengers are not allowed to serve themselves in the buffet
and dinner rolls in the restaurants are served by waiters, not in
baskets where passengers help themselves. Staff are everywhere with
antiseptic spray, wiping down everything all day long. |
Illness |
| March 19 |
Queen Mary 2
Cunard Line |
From a passenger: We are
currently on the QM2 World Cruise and the ship is in semi-lockdown with
Norovirus. no idea of the numbers but the crew are going all out to
contain it. |
Illness |
| March 19 |
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Posted at www.cruise.co.uk:
Just be aware we are currently on this cruise & have been
just told that the ships turbo is broken & we cant go as fast !! We
have to miss Colombia, but the Captain is aiming to get us to Aruba.If
your on this cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale next Monday Good Luck !! |
Propulsion problems |
| March 18 |
Minerva
Swan Hellenic |
The cruise ship was due to arrive in Tristan de Cunha
(in the South Atlantic ocean) early morning but was delayed and arrived
at 1500hrs. No passengers were allowed ashore, so the Post Office, and
others selling Handicrafts went onboard the vessel. She stayed off the
settlement until 1900hrs before collecting two passengers and departing
for Cape Town. |
Late port call |
| March 12 |
Costa Victoria
Costa Cruises |
The
National (United Arab Emerites) reports a French tourist was run
down and killed today while on a pedestrian crossing in the capital
just 90 minutes after disembarking from his cruise ship. Witnesses said
the man was hit and killed instantly in front of the Marina Cafe about
11.30am, as he crossed the street with his wife and a friend. The
victim’s wife and the friend managed to jump out of the way, as the
driver sped off. The driver, an Emirati, had abandoned his car, a BMW
sports model, behind Marina Mall and fled on foot, but was arrested a
short time later. A spokesman for Costa tours said it had arranged for
a bus to take tourists to Marina Mall but why the victim, his wife and
friend decided to walk was unknown. |
Pax death onshore |
| March 12 |
Mercury
Celebrity Cruises |
The ship reported 4 of 834 (0.48%) crew
and 93 of 1862 (5.0%) passengers had reported ill with gastrointestinal
illness on a 16 day circle cruise to Hawaii from San Diego. The cruise
began February 28 and ends March 15. UPDATE
March 13: CDC has revised the numbers to 6 crew (.72%) and
113 passengers (6.1%). |
Illness |
March 10
|
Norwegian Sun
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
From a reader:
In
February, while on a cruise on the ship, I overheard two crew members
discussing the fact that another crew member had discovered $2,000
and returned it to it's rightful owner through the proper
channels. Apparently, the money was discovered in a pair of pants
belonging to a passenger who had sent them to the laundry to be
cleaned. Upon discovery, the laundry attendant promptly reported the
discovery to his superior and the money was returned to the owner.
|
Good news story
|
March 10
|
Choke Somboon 19
Dive Asia
|
Travel
Blackboard reports seven people are missing after the Thai boat
bound for Phuket capsized and sank after heavy rain and winds on Sunday
night. The boat was traveling at speeds of eight to nine knots on its
return journey when it sank from the Similan Islands to Phuket with 30
passengers and crew on board. 23 people were able to get into the life
rafts and have safely returned to Phuket, but seven people are still
missing and a search in the area was conducted [Monday] and continues
on Tuesday. It is believed that the six-month old ship hit a vortex
which had formed quickly, causing it to capsize. Local fisherman, who
were nearby, raced to the scene and found the survivors adrift in an
inflatable lifeboat.
|
Sunk |
March 9
|
Voyager of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The itinerary on this cruise from Galveston was changed
after a female passenger sustained a broken leg on one leg and a broken
ankle on the other leg as a result of a fall down the stairs that go
from the Royal Promenade down to the Casino and had to be airlifted for
medical care. The Captain said due to the evacuation the should would
be 4 hours late arriving at our first scheduled stop in Cozumel.
Therefore the itinerary was changed and the ship went directly to
the next scheduled ports of Roatan on Wednesday and Coasta Maya on
Thursday. The Cozumel stop would then be on Friday and return to
Galveston as normal.
|
Itinerary change
|
March 9
|
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Los
Angeles Times (and Associated Press)
reports a dining room headwaiter (a 38-year-old Portuguese national who
has worked for Princess for 18 years) was
arrested
today on suspicion
of sexually assaulting a 42-year-old female passenger. The crew member
was taken
into custody after the Federal Bureau of Investigation received the
complaint about the assault and dispatched investigators and an
evidence response team to the ship, which docked in Los Angeles this
morning. The ship was on 14-day cruise through the Panama Canal,
between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Los Angeles.
|
Sexual assault
|
March 9
|
Millennium
Celebrity
Cruises |
The cruise scheduled for March 15 (14 day from
Auckland) has
been cancelled because
the ship requires dry docking to deal with a problem with a bearing on
the propeller shaft. Passengers booked on the cruise will
receive: a full
refund of all monies paid to Celebrity for the sailing; a future cruise
credit in the amount of the cruise fare paid, which may be used for
sailings that depart on or before 3/30/10 (can to be used on holiday or
Celebrity Xpedition sailings); and up to $250 per person for airline
change fees. The ship will end in Auckland March 15th, will sail to
Sydney for repairs, and is scheduled to return to Auckland for is March
29th cruise. Source: See New
Zealand Herald
|
Cancellation
|
March 9
|
Independence of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
Posters at Cruise
Critic report a woman fell from the pier with her motorized wheel
chair while the ship was docked at Cozumel this past week. One writes: We were walking back to this ship and we
were just passed the security guard that is outside the boat when we
heard a man yell for help. We saw the lady in the water. My husband and
I ran up to the ship and told the crew members who were working (taking
sea passes, etc) and they just looked at us. After yelling 3 times at
them that someone had fallen in the water and they needed help, they
finally took off running to help, but without any type of floatation
device. Then the security guard came for the life preserver. He was in
such a panic and rush that the rope from the preserver got caught in
the queue stands and he knocked over everything. Finally a female crew
member jumped in the water with the lady. It seemed like there was lots
of confusion and that they weren't really prepared for a situation like
this. There were lots of crew standing around outside on the pier, but
no one was really doing anything. They were yelling at each other to
get life jackets, etc. Although we did not see the lady actually be
lifted out of the water, she was floating fine when we saw her. Reports
from the crew (including the female crew member who jumped in with the
lady) said that the lady was doing fine and was on the ship.
|
Fall from pier
|
March 8
|
Royal
Caribbean International |
Royal Caribbean Caught Infiltrating Review
Sites With Viral Marketing Team -- See
article here
|
|
| March 5 |
Carnival Splendor
Carnival Cruise Lines |
Cruise
Critic reports a 63 year old male passenger was reported missing by
his wife while the ship was off the coast of Chile as part of an 18-day
South America voyage. The guest’s wife notified shipboard personnel at
9:30 a.m. this morning after she found a note that suggested a planned
suicide. The missing guest was last seen at approximately 4:30 a.m. The
ship’s command immediately began a vessel-wide search for the
individual and returned the vessel back to the area where the guest was
last seen. All appropriate authorities were notified. The Carnival
Splendor departed Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile, March 3 on an 18-day
South America cruise that ends in San Francisco March 21. |
Passenger overboard? |
| March 5 |
Fantasia
MSC
Cruises |
Think
Spain reports one person was injured early this afternoon when a
gangway joining the ship to the passenger terminal in Palma harbour
collapsed. Three crew members also ended up in the sea and had to be
fished out by the rescue services. The accident occurred as a result of
the strong winds affecting the Balearic Islands today. At about 2.30pm
today, as the passengers were disembarking from the cruise ship, a
strong gust of wind ripped several of the bow moorings off the bollards
and the boat lurched away from the quay, causing the gangway, at some
15m above the sea, to collapse. The passenger who was crossing the
gangway at the time fell into the water, hitting their head on the side
of the ship on the way down, prompting three crew members to dive into
the water to rescue him. All four have been treated for hypothermia and
the injured passenger, whilst currently in the care of the cruise
company's medical staff, might still be moved to a hospital in Palma. Click
here for a video of the incident.
|
Gangway collapse |
March 5
|
Costa Europa
Costa Cruises |
The
Telegraph reports angry passengers confronted the captain in
protest at what they felt was an "unacceptable" offer of compensation
after the ship became beset by engine problems. The two-week "Jewels of
the Indian Ocean" cruise ending February 28 was beset with propulsion
problems. The ship underwent repairs in the Kenyan port of Mombassa,
before
sailing towards Renunion, but passengers said the vessel’s speed
remained "erratic," while others noticed black smoke coming from the
engines. A scheduled stop on Reunion was then reduced to a short
"technical
stop," sparking further outrage before another confrontation allegedly
took place between the crew and passengers. Passengers at one point
staged a sit-in protest and began chanting for the captain, who finally
showed up and
apologized (according to passengers, admitting the cruise had been
‘ruined’. The company initially offered compensation of either an
on-board credit of 300 euros or a 600-euro discount; it later offered
both the on-board credit and discount. Some of the ship’s passengers
have since set up a blog
to
catalogue the alleged problems that occurred during the voyage.
|
Propulsion problems
--
Near mutiny
|
March 4
|
Unknown
|
The Cayman
Compass reports a 57-year-old cruise passenger died after she got
into difficulty while on a snorkelling trip. Witnesses on Seven Mile
Beach early that afternoon saw a crew from Red Sail Sports bringing the
woman into shore for medical assistance around 1:30pm. Police said the
Red Sail crew tried to save the woman by performing CPR while she was
being taken in to shore. The victim was rushed to hospital where she
was later pronounced dead.The woman was on a trip aboard one
of Red Sail Sports' catamarans.
|
Death on snorkelling trip
|
| March 4 |
Prince Albert II
Silversea Cruises |
The ships visit to Castro in Isla Chiloe (listed on the
brochure as the trip's highlight) on its cruise of Antarctica to Chile
was cancelled because of a 15 hour delay caused by a storm. However,
the delay was caused not just by the storm. According to a blog
from onboard, at 9:00 a.m., the Captain announced over the ship's
public address system that last night's storm was considerably worse
than anticipated, and a decision had been made to return south to the
fjords to seek shelter. This decision was prompted, in part, due to a
door being blown open at the front of the ship by the force of the seas
in the early-morning hours. The Captain added that whilst this had been
dealt with very quickly by the crew, it nonetheless led to
approximately two tonnes of seawater entering the ship. The door had no
alarm, so it was the fire patrol that found the door open and water
spilling into the ship. Most damage was to private properties of the
crew members who have their cabins under the forecastle. Some passenger
cabins (including ours) had the carpet wet, but no damage to properties. |
Cancelled port
--
Scary event |
March 4
|
Balmoral
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
Metro.co.uk
reports the ship made emergency calls after encountering "suspicious"
activity from two small craft in notorious waters off Somalia. Military
sources involved in monitoring the protected zone of the Gulf of Aden
said the incident yesterday was "a false alarm". But a spokeswoman for
Fred Olsen said: "Balmoral encountered suspicious activity by two small
craft, closing at high speed. The ship's master requested passengers to
assemble in 'safe havens' as part of a pre-planned safety procedure.
Aggressive maneuvering was implemented and contact was made with the EU
Coalition Task Force." The ship is expected to arrive in Salalah
tomorrow on schedule.
|
Pirate threat
|
March 4
|
Hrossay
Northlink Ferries
|
BBC
reports a passenger and a crewman on sailing from Aberdeen to
Shetland were taken to hospital after being thrown against bulkheads in
rough seas. The men were hurt at about 0610 GMT, when the ship was hit
by large waves and rolled twice in quick succession after it was caught
up in severe gale-force winds. In January both of Northlink's
Shetland ferries were seriously damaged by large waves within a week of
each other.
|
Injuries in high seas
|
March 3
|
Aurora
P&O
Cruises |
From a passenger: We broke down - 4 hours after leaving
Sydney the Captain announced there was a major problem with the port
propulsion system (the Port Shaft Thrust Bearing that has
gone). We can only do 13/14 knots and will miss Wellington, Bay of
Islands, and Napier,
instead heading straight for Auckland. Instead of 2 days it will take 4
to get there. Experts are flying to Auckland as the repairs cannot be
done at sea. There's a general downturn in the atmosphere... big
difference in comparison to yesterday leaving Sydney after having 2
amazing weeks in Australia. Some staff on board are already aware that
we are staying in port for at least 2 days. Possibly
longer. No need for a dry dock or anything as the bearing can be
replaced internally. UPDATE March 8 (Sunday): At
18:30 this
evening the Captain came over the tannoy with some further bad news.
He said that whilst visually the repairs completed to date looked
satisfactory, more detailed inspections with specialist equipment
(probably NDT) have identified the need for further repairs. As
such, Aurora will not be leaving Auckland until Tuesday
evening at the
earliest. The news then got worse as he said the Aurora would not now
be calling at Moorea or Tahiti, but would now be taking a more direct
route to Honolulu. However, he gave a glimmer of hope in that he
said there was a possibility of making a Polynesian port of call, but
this would not be known until the repairs had been completed and a
departure time from Auckland was known.
Compensation....he went on to say that a cheque would be sent to the
lead passengers home address in late March, but the exact amount has
not yet been decided by P&O's management. Update March 11:
New
Zealand Television reports the ship is scheduled to sail tonight (Wednesday).
However the Port
of Aukland website says the ship will depart March 12 (Thursday)
at 5:05PM. The ship will arrive in Honolulu one day behind schedule --
the day will be made up near the end of the world cruise be dropping a
port call at Madiera and stopping at Ponta Delgada in the Azores
instead.
|
Major Propulsion problems
--
Missed Ports
|
March 2
|
Azamara Quest
Azamara Cruises
|
From a reader:
Reported from the ship's Hong Kong to Beijing leg: Passengers did not
board Quest in Hong Kong yesterday until 6.00pm because the ship was
being cleaned from top to bottom due to norovirus. They were taken to
Disneyland for the afternoon. Their luggage wasn't delivered until
8.30pm.
|
Illness |
| February 27 |
Grand Princess
Princess
Cruises |
From a passengers: I just
returend from a 2 week Souther Caribbean cruise from Ft. Lauderdale.
Staff had colds the first day, including our waiter. By the second week
every other person was sneezing and coughing. Nothing was done to
contain this and no announcement was made. Not sure if they even
realized how many people were sick! |
Illness |
February 27
|
Oosterdam
Holland
America Line |
KFMB-TV
in San Diego reports 84 passengers have reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness, likely caused by norovirus. The ship returns
to San Diego tomorrow and according to the cruise line will be
sanitized. Update
March 2: eFluxMedia
reports
the numbers are now 106 passengers and 4 crew reporting ill. NOTE: Is it a
coincidence that this cruise began the day after the Zaandam cruise
(below) ended or is it possible a crew member from Zaandam brought the
illness with him/her onto Oosterdam? UPDATE:
CDC reports the numbers ill
at 110 of 1840 (5.98%) passengers and 10 of 786 (1.27%) crew members. |
Illness |
February 26
|
Unknown
|
The Miami
New Times reports a man got aboard a cruise ship this past November
at the Port of Miami -- he had three hours to kill before the ship took
off. So, through some fancy web setup and a wireless card, he was able
to watch about two and a half hours of a Chicago Bears game.
Afterwards, the ship took off. When he got back home, he found a
$28,067.31 cell phone bill! Seems AT&T was charging him
international rates of two cents per kb. He called AT&T to
straighten out that he was actually in the US, but the best they could
do for him was a $6,000 bill. The Chicago
Sun-Times got on the case, and found his wireless card was
picking up signals it shouldn't have. AT&T credited $27,776.66 to
his bill.
|
Beware cell phone charges
|
February 26
|
Costa Romatica
Costa Cruises
|
Merco
Press reports the ship is anchored seven miles off the Uruguayan
sea resort of Punta del Este after having suffered last night a brief
blackout caused by a fire in the generators room. It was traveling from
Rio do Janeiro where it left February 23 and was expected to reach
Buenos Aires early morning today. According to a release from Costa
Cruises the blaze was rapidly contained with no risk for passengers,
crew or the vessel. Travelers were immediately informed of the incident
and electricity was immediately restored with emergency equipment. A
team of Uruguayan experts with the support from the local Coast Guard
are currently assessing the extent of the damages and helping with the
repairs. The vessel is expected to resume its schedule this evening.
Most passengers on board are Brazilian, Argentines, Chileans and
Mexicans. Update: The Earth
Times reports 1,429 passengers and 590 crew members were
evacuated after efforts to repair the generator were unsuccessful.
Those on board were evacuated in boats to the resort town of Punta del
Esta about 13 kilometres from where the ship had anchored and about 120
kilometres east of Uruguayan capital Montevideo. They were then
transferred to Buenos Aires for flights home. Update: The cruise scheduled to
depart February 26 has been canceled given the need for repairs. As
reported at Cruising
Talk, passengers on that cruise were put up in hotels paid for by
Costa which is in the process of arranging an alternate vacation at a
land-based resort through March 12, when the cruise would have ended.
Those who do not want to take the resort option will receive a refund
of the amount paid and full assistance with their onward travels,
whether they booked their original air arrangements on their own or
with Costa. All guests on the canceled sailing will also receive a
credit equivalent to 50 percent of the fare paid (for the cruise only)
valid toward a future Costa cruise through December 31, 2010.
|
Fire -- Ship
evacuated
|
February 25
|
Serenade of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International
Island Star
Island Cruises
|
The Antigua
Sun reports a cruise passenger from SotS reportedly fell into a
manhole on Nevis Street in St. John's (Antigua). She was taken to the
ship for medical attention -- she sustained injuries to her legs. One
day earlier, a passenger from Island Star suffered the same fate,
falling into a manhole at the corner of High and Thames Street. The
uncovered holes are expected to be repaired by the Public Works
Department in the city.
|
Injuries onshore
|
February 23
|
Summit
Celebrity
Cruises |
Sixteen passengers were injured when their bus
apparently lost control and drove into a ditch while it was returning
to the ship from a shore excursion. The accident happened outside
Roseau, Dominica; some of the injured were flown to Miami for treatment
at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The passengers sustained injuries,
including broken bones, bumps, bruises and lacerations, however,
three people were more seriously injured; five of the 16 injured were
treated and released from the hospital in Dominica. The
passengers were returning from a Caribbean Cooking Adventure
shore excursion, in which they joined local culinary experts to
learn how to prepare and present traditional Caribbean dishes.
The three-and-a-half hour excursion concluded with a scenic drive
through Roseau before returning to the pier. The ship is sailing a
seven-night Caribbean cruise that departed San Juan on February 21.
|
Shore excursion
accident
|
February 23
|
Grand Princess
Princess
Cruises
Ventura
P&O
Cruises |
Caribbean
Net News reports strong winds prevented two of the four scheduled
cruise ships from docking at Port Zante (St. Kitts) over the weekend.
While Island Star and Carnival Victory were able to berth, Ventura
aborted efforts on Saturday, after trying to berth in winds up to 32
knots. On Sunday, unusually strong winds gusting as high as 45 knots
forced Grand Princess to turn away. Unrelated
missed ports: In other news, several cruise ships skipped port
calls at Guadeloupe and Martinique because of labour unrest on the
islands. Silversea's Silver WInd skipped Sri Lanka because of civil
unrest.
|
Missed port calls
|
February 22
|
Galaxy
Celebrity
Cruises |
From a passenger: Just came back from an 11 night cruise on
the Galaxy. We had cockroaches in our Royal Suite 1024. The ship had
propulsion problems while in port in St Lucia that delayed the ship for
about 4 hours. The sewer flooded in our cabin.
|
Propulsion problems
|
February 20
|
Multiple ships
|
The Antigua
Sun reports passengers/crew on four ships were robbed while in
Antigua yesterday. The robberies allegedly took place between Sand
Haven and Millers by the Sea. There were four cruise ships on island
and passengers from all of the vessels were reportedly robbed. The
ships were the Caribbean Princess, Azamar, Costa Atlantica and Thompson
Destiny. The police have reportedly managed to arrest a few persons in
connection with the robberies. They responded to a 911 call of a
robbery in progress at Fort James beach, where three youths, two 17
years old and one 19 from the Golden Grove and Villa Area were arrested
as they attempted to rob a crew member of a cruise ship.
|
Robberies ashore
|
February 19
|
Oceanic Discoverer
Coral
Princess Cruises
|
The Sydney
Morning Herald reports a 34 year old Australian crewman is
in a critical condition after being crushed by a hydraulic door during
a fire drill while the ship was moored in Hawkes Bay. He is in a
critical condition in Hawkes Bay hospital's intensive care unit. The
ship is on a 12-day cruise off New Zealand's coastline, starting in
Auckland and ending at Milford Sound. UPDATE
March 10: The man has subsequently died from his injuries.
|
Critical injury
|
February 17
|
Ocean Nova
Quark Expeditions
|
Jeanne
Leblanc's blog and Associated
Press report the ship, with 64 passengers and 41 crew members
aboard, ran aground about one mile (two kilometers) from the San Martin
base (Antarctica), pushed by "extremely high winds" into craggy rocks.
An initial assessment of damage indicated that there was no imminent
danger and no threat to lives and there is no sign of leakage of any
kind from the vessel. The ship was on its eighth day of a nearly
two-week expedition exploring the polar circle that embarked from
Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city. The company says the ship
should be able to break free on its own as the tide rises. UPDATE: The
Telegraph reports the ship was unable to free itself and that
passengers will be evacuated to other ships. Update February 23: The company
canceled today’s sailing from Ushuaia so the ship can undergo an
estimated three days of repairs. Passengers were rebooked on Polar Star
Expeditions' Polar Star’s Feb. 24 sailing, with Quark providing hotel
accommodations tonight and rearranging return flights. NOTE: Non
official sources on the Ocean Nova reports that the engine was shut off
and some maintenance was being done in the engine room (assume it was a
regular maintenance), but that is why they could not start the engine
immediately when the winds picked up. They had to put together whatever
it was that they had disassembled. |
Aground
|
February 15
|
Zaandam
Holland
America Line |
From a reader: My
mother and her husband are sailing aboard Holland America’s Zaandam,
which departed San Diego for Hawaii on February 5. Several days ago,
she called, saying passengers were reporting bouts of diarrhea and
vomiting. Sick passengers were being isolated in their rooms for 36-48
hours. According to her, self-serve buffets had been converted to
staff-served and regular cleaning crews had been replaced with special
personnel. Extra hand sanitizer had been placed in her room. Tonight,
she called again, saying she and her husband had been sick with
diarrhea, vomiting, fever and a neck rash for four days. UPDATE: The CDC reports 21 of 590
(3.6%) crew and 74 of 1408 (5.3) passengers have reported ill. The
cruise ends in San Diego on February 20.
|
Illness |
February 15
|
Rhapsody of the
Seas & Serenade of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ships were each cited for one air quality
violation in Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. |
Environmental
|
| February 15 |
Norwegian Star
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for two air quality violations in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. |
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Oosterdam
Holland
America Line |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. |
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Island Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. |
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Clipper Pacific
International Shipping Partners
|
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. |
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Mercury & Millennium
Celebrity
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ships have been cited for air quality violations
in Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. Mercury had 1 violation; Millennium had 2. |
Environmental |
February 13
|
Explorer of the
Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
From
a passenger: Aboard the
Explorer of the Seas Feb 13 voyage from Bayonne, NJ. At
boarding we were informed that since the ship is unable to cruise at 22
Knots, and will, instead, make only 20 Knots, the schedule has been
adjusted slightly. The most significant change is in San Juan
where the ship will be in port from 7AM until 11:30AM. No details or
further explanations have been given.
|
Propulsion problems
|
February 13
|
Ecstasy
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
From Cruise
Critic: At 2:30am I got a wake
up call that I did not request....I woke up to the fire alarms going
off. I got up and immediately smelled smoke, I heard yelling in the
hall. I opened my cabin door which was E189 on the Empress Deck and
there was a lady in her undies yelling that the ship was on fire and
for us to evacuate. I got dressed, grabbed my purse, sail and sign
card and my life jacket. There
was NO crew members anywhere to be seen! No one telling us if the fire
was up or down, forward or aft. All I knew was that the Deck was hazy
with smoke and that the smell was horrible. I ended up following others
up to the Atlantic Deck to our muster station. Still no crew. It was
more then 15 minutes after arriving at the Starlight that the first
crew member showed up. She just told us basically to shut up and sit
down. An elderly lady was injured during the movement and another had
an asthma attack due to all the smoke. I called Carnival and spoke with
a sup. I
was told that it was a small fire (how small I don't know, it did cause
quite a bit of smoke and several cabins on that deck were not available
to their occupants for at least 3 hours and at least one passenger had
to be moved - I was in line behind her at the pursers desk - and one
couple in line to disembark were not allowed back into their cabin
right away and their carpet was soaking wet). Carnival is stating that
they are trying to keep it quiet. I suppose it would be bad publicity.
So I suppose that is why there are not any reports about it. Finally
the crew started showing up with
medical help. I do not know for sure who or what started the fire, but
I was told that some guy set towels afire in his cabin. I did see
someone (a male) being arrested before debarkation and being led away
in hand cuffs off the ship by Customs agents.
|
Fire
|
February 12
|
Emerald Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Antigua
Sun reports the ship canceled its scheduled call to Antigua
yesterday due to the weather conditions. The vessel had entered the
entrance of the St. John’s Harbour channel when it decided to turn back
because the ship’s captain became very concerned about the ground
swells and the high winds. This forced him to cancel the call out of
safety for his passengers and crew.The President of the Antigua and
Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association said pilots at the Antigua and
Barbuda Port Authority tried to reassure the captain that they could
have brought in the cruise ship safely. This was, however, not enough
reassurance for the captain.
|
Canceled port call
|
February 11
|
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship reported 10 of 885 (1.13%)
crew and 164 of 1996 (8.22%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on
a 10 day Caribbean/Panama Canal cruise (Fort Lauderdale return) that
February 3 and ends February 13. UPDATE
February 13: Numbers have been revised to 19 of
885 (2.1%)
crew and 252 of 1996 (12.6%) passengers. |
Illness |
February 9
|
Legend of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
A poster at Cruise
Critic reports the ship pulled in to Key West this morning due to a
faulty azipod. The azipod was leaking oil into the water and was
ordered into port by the Captain of the Port. She is moored in Key West
with a boom around her. Repairs were completed by the evening and the
ship was again on its way.
|
Oil leak from azipod
|
February 8
|
Seven Seas Voyager
Regent Seven Seas |
From a reader: A friend of mine called from the ship and
told me they are experiencing very rough seas in the Tasmanian
Sea. She is a very experienced cruiser and she said these are the
roughest seas she has ever experienced. Passengers are not allowed on
deck, waves are crashing into the balconies and dishes are breaking and
crashing in the dining rooms. The ship is scheduled to reach Sydney on
the 13th. From a passenger: Utter nonsense. I am on board the
Voyager. Was it rough - yes, it is the Tasman Sea. There were signs
posted asking us not to go out on decks 5 and 6 - for our own safety. I
am on deck 7 and would not have been stupid enough to go out on my
balcony but we were not "forbidden". Hardly the catastrophe the poster
led the readers to believe . . . we're in Sydney today - cool and
overcast.
|
Very rough seas
|
February 8
|
Rhapsody of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
ABC
(Australia) reports that passengers will be forced to disembark at
a buoy in the middle of Sydney Harbour on Tuesday (Feb 10) because all
other shipping berths are being used. They are full and the ship will
instead anchor at a harbour buoy and its passengers taken to land by a
smaller boat. This is a first for Sydney Harbour.
|
Strange disembarkation
|
February 6
|
Holiday
Carnival
Cruise Lines
|
WWLP-TV
in Mobile reports the ship's cruise ending yesterday dropped the port
call at Progreso due to technical problems. Passengers said Carnival
knew about the problems before they even got on board. Carnival handed
the boarding passengers a letter letting them know there was a problem
with the cruising speed so they'd only be stopping at Cozumel. Some
passengers said even the locals in Cozumel knew the boat was having
problems weeks ago. "All the locals telling me, don't get on that boat,
the boat broke," said one passenger. "I said the boat is broke? How
long has it been broke? They said for about three or four weeks," he
said. The ship arrived late (12:30 PM) in Mobile; as a result the
following cruise left late (9:30 PM). It, too, dropped its port call at
Progreso.
|
Propulsion problems
|
February 6
|
Balmoral
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
The Daily
Express and BBC
reports more than 230 people (about 13%) on board an 18-day cruise
of the Canary Islands and west Africa have been taken ill after an
outbreak of norovirus on their ship. About 50 passengers remain
confined to their cabins by the bug. The cruise operator said the liner
was refused entry the Cape Verde Islands following the outbreak. The
ship was now heading for the Canary Islands. |
Illness
|
February 6
|
Athena
Classic International |
The Adelaide
Advertiser reports the ship delayed its departure from Outer Harbor
by more than four hours tonight, frustrating passengers who had paid
more than $500 for a weekend cruise to Kangaroo Island. Passengers
arrived for the three-day cruise at 5pm, as the temperature reached
it's peak of 43.9 degrees. A short time later they were informed that
the cruise would depart at 10.30 pm - more than four hours after its
scheduled departure time of 6pm. One passenger, who did not want to be
named, said he had hoped the cruise would follow the coastline at
sunset, but that it would now leave well after dark.
|
Delayed departure
|
February 6
|
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
WPTV
reports a passenger was robbed on a Carnival cruise. She had locked
up her wedding ring, her engagement ring and other gold pieces in her
stateroom safe so they could go to Atlantis (Bahamas) for the day. When
she returned, she couldn't open the safe, and she called security who
opened it with a master key. She saw her jewelry box and thought
nothing of it...until she got home and says four thousand dollars in
jewelry was gone. The passenger wrote to Carnival several times, to
which they responded saying their employees are honest, courteous and
professional. Carnival Cruise Lines told WPTV there is little they can
do because the passenger didn't realize the jewelry was missing until
she got home. NOTE: The cruise
industry reported to the FBI 128 robberies between April 1, 2007 and
April 30, 2008.
|
Theft
onboard
(Alleged)
|
February 5
|
Unknown
|
The Antigua
Sun reports that two cruise ship passengers were reportedly
assaulted yesterday during an attempted robbery in the tourist area and
popular business district of Redcliffe Quay. The passengers, male and
female, were walking in Redcliffe Quay area when a man allegedly
grabbed the woman’s handbag, after putting up a short fight with her.
Her male companion reportedly tried to fight back but the robber still
managed to wrestle the bag away. The woman’s screams, however, alerted
the private security staff of Redcliffe Quay who immediately went to
her rescue. The security officer began chasing the robber, who
eventually dropped the bag and made good his escape.
|
Robbery ashore
|
February 5
|
Explorer of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The Miami
Herald reports the ship was leaving Samana, Dominican Republic, on
January 29 when a propeller on one of the ship's engines struck an
unidentified object and was bent. The 11-day cruise skipped its last
port call in Labadee, Haiti, and returned to Cape Liberty, N.J., on
February 1. The present cruise skipped its port call in San Juan,
Puerto Rico, and is now en route to St. Thomas, where divers will
repair the propeller today. The St. Thomas port call has been extended
six hours to 11 p.m. Thursday. From a
passenger: The incident occurred at dinner time and vibration
was noted by several people. We were well within the buoyed channel. We
were compensated $ 100 per person by the line and extra activities were
planned by the crew. On the 30th, the ship stopped near Turks and
Caicos and allowed to drift for over an hour while divers were sent
down. They inspected and photographed the propeller and then came back
on board. I am a radio enthusiast and heard them say there was damage
to the blades. We then proceeded home at reduced speed.
|
Damaged propeller
|
February 4
|
Volendam
Holland
America Line |
Passengers were notified that the ship's call to
Petropavlovsk (Kamchatka), Russia on May 10, 2009 has been cancelled
and has been replaced with a call to Aomori, Japan. Passengers booking
shore excursion received full refunds. Shore excursions in Aomori will
be available in time.
|
Itinerary change
|
February 2
|
Athena
Classic International |
The
Islander (Australia) report two of the ship's tenders ran aground
off Kangaroo
Island. The ship was docked at Outer Harbor in Adelaide yesterday. One
tender ran aground with about 50 passengers and crew aboard. The other,
with three crewmen aboard, went to its aid and also ran aground.
Passengers were transported from the tender by a third tender as the
Cooinda charter vessel stood by and three helicopters, including
police, hovered in the area. Many more passengers were left stranded at
the wharf as one tender began the slow process of bringing them all
back to the cruise ship. The Cooinda tried to drag one tender to deeper
water about 4pm but decided it would have to wait until the tide was
higher, with high tide expected at 9pm. Local fisherman and boaties
were perplexed about why the ship had anchored where it was instead of
further into the bay where tenders would have a straighter run to the
jetty.
|
Aground
|
January 31
|
Radiance of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
El
Mercurio (Chile) reports that the ship arrived yesterday in Puerto
Montt with a 12 meter long dead humpback whale entangled on the bow.
The Navy undertook an inspection but was unable to determine whether
the whale was alive when it was struck. The remains of the animal were
removed by a fishing vessel and transported to the open sea. The two
thousand passengers on the cruise did not know of the whale strike when
it happened, but could see the whale on the bow when they tendered
ashore from the ship.
|
Whale strike
|
January 31
|
Carnival Splendor
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
From a passenger: In the port at Fort Lauderdale there was
an incident at the port terminal. Boarding passengers were evacuated
from
the terminal while the port
was closed. The Broward County Sheriff's Department, the bomb squad,
dogs and and
finally robots searched through the terminal and luggage for many
hours. I had been able to board the ship early on and observed from
the deck what I have just described. After I spoke via cell phone with
my friends who had been evacuated to another terminal during the
search, I approached a ship's officer immediately after he exited the
bridge and asked him what was occurring in the terminal. He said he did
not know for sure, but it was
surmised by the ship's officers that a bomb threat had been called in,
perhaps by one of the 100+
disgruntled passengers not allowed to board the ship due to lack of
Brazilian
visas. The ship departure was
delayed about 6 hours. The
Splendor's captain never provided any information about the cause of
the delay,
nor did he attend any
function on board where he
could be asked directly what had happened. The ship was beginning a
49-day circumnavigation of South America.
|
Delayed departure
--
?Bomb threat?
|
January 29
|
Stena Voyager
Stena
Line |
The
Herald (Scotland) reports 156 passengers and 23 crew members were
stranded onboard after a lorry broke free and burst through the cruise
ferry's rear door shortly after it set off from Stranraer, Dumfries and
Galloway. The ship was forced to head back to port with the lorry
hanging out of the back. But passengers and crew were not able to
disembark because the ferry could not berth, leaving them stuck on
board for a whole day. They were subsequently removed from the ship to
shore one-by-one by a fire service cherry picker. The lorry was later
lifted from the vessel, finally allowing the ferry to dock at the
harbour and the other vehicles to be removed. The lorry was a
tanker carrying non-hazardous ferrous sulphate powder and none of the
substance had leaked.
|
Accident
|
January 28
|
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur
Cruises
|
Grenadine police say they are investigating how a
38-year-old Colombian woman went missing after she disembarked the
ship. The employee disembarked the vessel on an early Tuesday port call
to the island but did not return.
|
Crew member missing
|
January 27
|
Vacancier
CTMA
|
CTV
reports the 300-passenger ship is stuck in the ice of the St.
Lawrence River since yesterday. It is trapped in a massive blanket of
ice that has frozen the ship's progress. The passengers were en route
to a week-long cross-country ski trip in the Chic-Choc mountains. Those
plans came to a grinding halt when the ice closed in around the ship
near Matane, Que. UPDATE: The
ship was freed after being stuck for 30 hours.
|
Stuck in ice
|
January 26
|
Sinfonia
MSC
Cruises |
O
Globo
reports the cruise following the outbreak reported January 8 (below)
had 46 passengers (approximately 3%) report ill. That was on a cruise
between Rio and Buenos Aires.
|
Illness |
January 24
|
Dawn Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship's port call at Otago (New Zealand) was delayed
because of dense fog. Rather than arriving at 8:30 AM, the ship set
anchor and finally entered the habour at 11 AM. Its departure from
Otago was delayed for two hours, but some shore excursions had still
been disrupted.
|
Fog-caused delay
|
January 22
|
Golden Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Associated
Press reports that a commercial fishing vessel nearly collided with
the cruise ship in Los Angeles harbor's main channel. A Coast Guard
spokesperson said a 31-foot-long fishing vessel "erratically" crossed
within about 30 feet of the front of the cruise ship as it entered the
harbor. The incident is under investigation. Federal law prohibits
vessels from coming within 200 yards in front and 100 yards behind or
to the sides of a cruise ship that is moving.
|
Near collision
|
January 20
|
Balmoral
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
BBC
reports that two passengers have been taken to hospital with broken
bones after the ship was hit by 50ft waves and winds of 60 mph in the
Bay of Biscay. The ship docked in the Spanish port of La Coruna after
setting sail from Dover January 17; it is due back in Dover on 27
January.
|
Injuries in high seas
|
January 19
|
Tahitian Princess
Princess
Cruises |
A blogger
onboard reports: At
approximately 4.30 PM there was an announcement by the Captain over the
speaker
system on the ship, broadcasting not only in the public areas but also
into the cabins (this indicated something of great importance) to say
that there had been an outbreak of the 'Norwalk Virus' on board and
that a number of people had been confined to their cabins and the
remainder of us should take extra care with hand washing etc., in order
to eradicate the problem. NOTE:
Because the ship is cruising to South America, the number of passengers
becoming ill will not be reported to or by the Centres for Disease
Control. However, it has been reported that 86
passengers were ill. |
Illness |
January 19
|
Ecstasy
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
Posters at Cruise
Critic report that ship is having
propulsion problems -- one person says the ship had been operating on
half power since Friday. It arrived late at Galveston today and there
is speculation the problem may influence the itinerary on the cruise
departing today.
|
Propulsion problems
|
January 16
|
Paradise
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
An elderly couple (aged 90 and 79) were reported
missing,
and cruise officials say they likely went overboard before the ship
docked in Long Beach. Carnival says the couple's cabin door was double
locked from the inside with a "do not disturb" sign on the
handle. The couple's personal belongings remained inside the cabin and
the door leading from the cabin to the balcony was unlocked.
|
Passengers overboard
|
January 15
|
Golden Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was anchored offshore from Lahaina (Maui) and
unable to disembark passengers because of rough seas and weather
conditions. The ship was scheduled to allow passengers to go onshore at
Lahaina Harbor, but the captain feared the weather conditions would
deteriorate Thursday afternoon, making it unsafe for passengers who
would need to use a tender to get back to the ship. He was concerned
about having a large number of passengers onshore during the one-day
stop before going on to Ensenada, Mexico. If they were unable to
reboard, they would have to be flown to Ensenada.
|
Canceled port call
|
January 15
|
Carnival Conquest
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
The Southeast
Texas Record reports a lawsuit has been filed alleging a
13-year-old girl was sexually assaulted during a cruise last summer.
The girl was aboard the ship the afternoon of June 24 when a male
employee - a waiter at the ship's Lido Deck Buffet
- approached the teen as she went toward her cabin and made an
inappropriate pass at her, court papers say. "During the encounter in
the hallway, the Carnival employee made inappropriate and sexually
suggestive comments to the minor, grabbed her arm, and forcibly
attempted to pull her into an
elevator," the original petition says. The plaintiffs argue the waiter
also tried to kiss the girl's face and neck.
|
Sexual assault of
minor
|
January 15
|
Oceania
P&O
Cruises |
Holiday
Insiders reports police are investigating how a male passenger died
during a planned scuba diving trip during the ship's stop
in Tortola. The company said “Onboard sales of that particular
excursion have been suspended pending an investigation. The dive was
for PADI certified and experienced divers only and was operated in full
cooperation with PADI best practice and procedures.
|
Death on shore
excursion
|
January 14
|
MV Barranda (Tourist Yacht) -
Ecuador
|
News
Agency Trend News reports a yacht carrying 15 tourists caught fire
near Ecuador's national park on the Galapagos Islands but caused no
injuries. The fire broke out at about 1:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Bartolome
Island of the Galapagos Archipelago. All 15 tourists aboard were
immediately evacuated by another two tourist ships near the scene. UPDATE: The
Telegraph reports passengers had to go into the water and wait 30
minutes to be rescued. Shortly before the evacuation they had been told
the waters were known to be shark-infested.
|
Fire
|
January 13
|
Pacific Dawn
P&O
Australia |
The
Sydney Morning Herald reports that a 22 year old man has been
rescued after jumping from the ship when it was 20 miles off
Vila, Vanuatu at about 5am. The man, who had been in a restricted area,
was seen by a staff member who raised the alarm. A life buoy and smoke
flares were deployed. He was rescued within 45 minutes. A P&O
spokesman said the ship "was traveling at half-speed, about 12 knots,
and able to stop and then use the bow thrusters to turn around, without
having to do a Williamson maneuver [which would have required the ship
to complete a circular loop to turn around].'' Some reports say the man
was drunk following an all night party.
|
Person overboard - rescued
|
January 11
|
Ventura
P&O
Cruises |
The Sunday
Times (London) reports on a holiday cruise, ending in Barbados,
that has been described by some as a cruise from hell. The article
states: "Cruising etiquette went overboard with the new breed of
cut-price passengers, who tried to reserve sun beds all day by draping
towels over them and allegedly sent their underage children to the
ship’s 12 bars to stock up on alcohol. A brawl between two families
from Manchester apparently broke out over who was drinking the better
champagne. Children threw food at stewards and abused the ship’s
officers when asked to stop. Even the captain was booed when he tried
to count down to midnight on New Year’s Eve. And bad weather meant the
ship missed three of the six islands on its itinerary. Instead, it made
an unscheduled stop at St. Vincent to put ashore two youths (and their
guardian) who were behaving badly.
|
Cruise from hell
|
January 11
|
Teratai Prima
Indonesian ferry
|
BBC
reports
that a search operation is under way after the ferry, carrying about
250 passengers and 17 crew, sank in a storm ( a tropical cyclone caused
waves of 5 - 6 metres) in central Indonesia. A transport agency
spokesman earlier said 18 people were known to have survived -- it was
not immediately clear if the authorities expected to find more
survivors. The ferry was traveling from Pare Pare in South Sulawesi to
Samarinda in East Kalimantan when it went down. UPDATE: As of January
12, 245 people are still missing.
|
Sunk
|
January 10
|
Summit
Celebrity
Cruises |
Cruise
Critic reports the ship's January 31 cruise, originally a
seven-night Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan, has been
shortened by a day -- the port call at Tobago has ben cancelled. The
cruise will now end on Friday, February 6 (instead of the 7th). The
ship will then immediately head into dry dock to undergo repairs for
what the line describes as "an electrical problem." The dry dock is
expected to last four days. The next cruise aboard Celebrity Summit is
on scheduled to depart from San Juan on February 14; it was chartered
-- and therefore not open to the public for booking -- for its February
7 departure; that cruise has been canceled.
|
Cancellation
--
Altered itinerary
|
| January 9 |
Orchestra
MSC
Cruises |
Passengers on the Jam Cruise (see http://jamcruise.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8925) report an outbreak of an influenza-type illness that affect hundreds of passengers. The CDC investigated the outbreak, but because it wasn't a gastro intestinal illness it was not reported at their web site. |
Illness |
January 9
|
Maasdam
Holland
America Line |
From a Passenger: There
was an outbreak of what the cruise ship's medical staff was diagnosing
as a gastrointestinal virus on the January 2-9, 2009 sailing.
Five of our family's seven members on board, in
three separate cabins, were affected and spent multiple days in
isolation. I was told by my treating nurse that he was brought over
from the Noordam to assist due to the number of sick passengers. I have
not seen any reports of this anywhere yet. The passenger also
said he was told that more than 60 passengers had been treated for
gastrointestinal illness. The CDC subsequently
reported 8 of 561 (1.4%)
crew and 79 of 1402 (5.6%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness. |
Illness |
January 9
|
Mercury
Celebrity
Cruises |
The ship reported 3 of 859 (0.3%)
crew and 86 of 1842 (4.7%) passengers
had
reported ill with gastrointestinal illness on a 14 day Panama Canal
cruise (San Diego to Fort Lauderdale) that
began January 3 and ends January 17. Update
January 13: Numbers have been revised to 5 of 859 (0.6%) crew
and 127 of 1842
(6.9%) passengers. Update
January 17: Numbers have been
revised to 7 of 859 (0.81%) crew and 150 of 1842 (8.14%) passengers.
|
Illness |
January 8
|
Sinfonia
MSC
Cruises
|
The Associated
Press reports that more than 340 passengers were stricken with
severe vomiting and diarrhea. The Brazilian National Agency for
Sanitary Vigilance said in a statement that an inspection found
problems with the amount of chlorine in the ship's drinking water and
with the storage of some perishable food items, notably mayonnaise. But
officials said they would not know what caused the illness until they
wrap up their investigation. The health agency said the outbreak was
under control, and the victims were being interviewed and treated on
board the ship. Most fell ill on Monday and Tuesday. UPDATE: O
Globo reports the illness outbreak affected 380 people and is
attributed to norovirus. Estadao
reports: The
analysis of water was negative for all viruses and bacteria. In the
analysis of food, were found traces of the bacterium Escherichia coli
(known as E.coli) in samples of raw meat. |
Illness |
January 8
|
Pacific Dawn
P&O
Australia |
From a reader:
The
ship was due in Sydney this morning (around 7am, Sydney time) however
it is experiencing engine trouble and will not arrive in Sydney until
at least 5pm ... some ten hours late. The next cruise was due to
depart Sydney at 4pm, however passengers are being told to not
turn up at the wharf until 9pm.
|
Engine problems
--
Delayed debarkation
|
January 7
|
Sun Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Hawke's
Bay Today reports three passengers (one a seven-year-old boy who
needed cut on his head stitched) needed medical care following a
traffic accident when a car crossed into the path of their tour bus
with 26 passengers. The accident, which occurred in Napier (New
Zealand) brought residents out to comfort the 26 shocked passengers
with tea and biscuits while ambulance officers checked them over.
|
Accident on Shore Excursion
|
January 6
|
Richard With
Hurtigruten |
Cruise
Business Review reports that the ship ran aground at the port of
Trondheim on the west coast of Norway at 0757 this morning. It suffered
propeller damage and took on board water through a leak in a seal and
the 153 passengers on board have been evacuated. The ship was so close
to the pier that the rescue operation could be conducted by the local
emergency services from land. The vessel is now sitting on a mud bank
and divers have been sent to investigate damage to the hull. No damage
to the hull had been detected, but it is expected that the ship will
have to enter dry dock for repairs and inspection.
|
Grounded
|
January 4
|
Arcadia
P&O
Cruises |
Cruising
Talk reports that the ship had an extended stay in Barcelona due to
a mechanical problem during the current cruise. One report said it was
the pods and another her stand-by generator. Her call at Vigo was
cancelled and passengers have received £100.00 in compensation.
She is due to arrive in Southampton about 06.00 hrs on the 5th January
2009 and expected to sail for Palma at 17.00 hrs. UPDATE: The ship arrived in
Southampton early, however its departure was delayed. This
Is Hampshire reports that a problem had developed with the vessel's
emergency electrical back-up system forcing the ship to stay in port.
The spare parts are being flown to Southampton from Italy. P&O
Cruises says, "The situation is still being assessed but it is hoped
that the ship will leave later today."
|
Engine problems
|
January 3
|
Holiday
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
From a passenger:
The ship's arrival and debarkation at Mobile (after a five night
cruise) was delayed due to dense fog, preventing the pilot vessel from
dropping off the pilot until 11AM. The ship finally arrived in
port at 2:45 PM. Passengers were given food/restaurant seating at
regular lunch time and Sign & Sail cards re-activated until
arrival. Debarkation went very quickly after arrival.
|
Delayed debarkation / embarkation
|
January 1
|
Corinthians 2
Polar
Cruises
|
The ship was supposed to leave Ushuaia tonight, but it
is
having some trouble with fuel and will stay in Ushuaia tomorrow, and
offer a catamaran trip to their passengers.
|
Delayed departure |
January 1
|
Sensation
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
The United States Coast Guard received a report that an
employee fell overboard approximately 20 miles off the coast of Vero
Beach. Friends saw the 26 year old man from California fall around 82
feet below into the water at
about 12:50AM,
threw him a life ring and notified the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has
launched a helicopter unit to search for the man. The ship's docking in
Port Canaveral was delayed until 9:30AM while it participated in the
search. Carnival said in a statement that the man, a singer with
a band that had performed on the top deck, was not on duty at the time
and that six other
crew members saw him fall. He was reportedly trying to take a picture
when he went overboard. |
Crew overboard |
Click here for events in 2008 |
